


A Little Space to Think

by allmylovesatonce



Category: Red White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston
Genre: Happy Ending, Light Angst, M/M, Post-Canon, if you can even call it that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 01:10:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29909871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allmylovesatonce/pseuds/allmylovesatonce
Summary: A surprise visitor sends Alex into a spiral about his future, specifically, his future with Henry.
Relationships: Alex Claremont-Diaz/Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor
Comments: 18
Kudos: 168





	A Little Space to Think

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in January and kept saving it for some reason or another. Anyway, here you go! Hope you enjoy!

Alex is staring at his textbook, trying to make the words process in his brain. It’s not working. Midterms are next week and he’s losing his mind. Henry’s at the shelter, though he doesn’t really  _ need  _ to be today. He left because they both knew that Alex needed to be alone to actually accomplish his studying goals for the day. All he’s heard from Henry so far today is one “You can do it!” text with a picture of Rosie the Riveter. He seemed pretty proud of himself too. Alex smiled and said thank you and then said he was going to ignore his phone for the rest of the day. 

It’s not  _ completely  _ true as he picks it up every few minutes before crashing it back down on the desk because he’s supposed to be working. And then he’ll scroll through twitter. When that inevitably makes him mad, he’ll go back to studying. He just can’t focus today and he can’t figure out why. It helps that he’s studying now instead of waiting for next week, but he just doesn’t feel very productive. 

The doorbell rings and Alex welcomes the distraction. That is until he opens the door. 

“Philip?” he asks, staring with wide eyes at the man standing on his doorstep. 

Philip has been in New York for the past few days on some sort of tour. After this, he’s heading to Boston or Los Angeles or somewhere. Henry told Alex but he didn’t really care enough about Philip to listen. Last night, Philip had some event he was going to and he insisted Henry join him. Alex was bothered by that too. It wasn’t Henry’s event. He should have gotten to stay home. When Alex offered to join them — mainly just to support Henry — he was told no. 

“Uh, hi,” Alex continues. “What brings you by here?” 

The man just walks past him into the house. Alex bites back the words on his tongue. It’s not going to help either of them for Alex to yell at him. 

“So, this is where you two live?” Philip asks. He’s ignoring Alex’s question. 

“Clearly. Is there something I can do for you? Henry isn’t here.” 

“Oh, he’s not?” 

“No. He’s at the shelter. If you need to speak with him, you can either go there or come back here later. I have some studying I need to get done, so I can’t really have distractions.” 

Philip nods, mostly to himself. “Law school, correct?” 

“Yes.” There’s something off about Philip — even more than usual. He doesn’t sit down, just stands with his arms crossed in front of the fireplace. 

“And how is law school going for you?” 

That’s certainly off. Philip doesn’t give a shit about Alex. He clears his throat, adopting a similar position on the other side of the room. “Going alright. I have midterms next week though, so I really should be studying.” 

“You do know you’ll never be able to use your law degree,” Philip says. 

Alex stares at him. Well, it’s probably more of a glare. “Excuse me?” 

“You won’t be able to use your law degree,” Philip says, “if you plan to marry Henry, that is.”

“I don’t believe that’s an  _ if  _ for me.” 

“Well, then it’s even more important for us to be having this conversation.” Philip walks over and sits himself in a chair, looking as smug as Alex has ever seen him. Alex stays where he is, his arms crossed in a defensive position. “If you are married to Henry, a prince, you will not be able to practice law. That’s just not how it’s done. You’ll have other duties to attend to. The Royal life will be your job.” 

“Is this why you came here? To have this pointless conversation with me?” 

“It’s far from pointless, Alex. You need to be thinking about your future. About your and Henry’s shared future,” Philip tells him. “If I recall correctly from your emails, you want to be in politics one day.” 

Alex’s blood starts to boil. It’s the casual mention of one of the most traumatizing experiences of his life that sets him off. No one was supposed to read those emails apart from Henry, certainly not his asshole brother. 

“Yes,” he says in a strained voice. “That’s true.” 

“Well, that certainly won’t be able to happen. You cannot be an American politician married to a British royal. Presumably, if you marry Henry, you’ll be given a title. And that will preclude you from running for office.” 

“This is not a conversation I need to be having with  _ you,  _ Philip.” 

“No, what you need to be doing is facing reality, Alex. You can’t have both. You can have Henry or your political career. You should decide sooner rather than later which one you choose. It’s unfair to string Henry along if you’re just going to end up choosing your career over him. He’s been through enough already.” 

“Are you serious?” Alex asks. His voice is getting higher the more irritated he gets. “I think I know what Henry’s been through. I like how you pretend that you’re not part of that  _ enough  _ that he’s been through. You can’t sit here and claim to be looking out for him when we both know how you’ve treated him.” 

“That’s in the past. In this instance, I’m looking out for him,” Philip insists. “You need to understand what you’re doing here.” 

“And you need to leave,” Alex says, stepping back and pointing to the door. “You may be Henry’s brother and the future king of the United Kingdom, but that doesn’t give you the right to walk in here and order me around. You don’t know even half of the life that Henry and I have together, so please, don’t pretend to. You can go. I have other things I need to be doing than having this conversation.” 

Philip raises an eyebrow, looking like he wants to counter Alex. But he doesn’t. He stands up and walks to the door, unaffected by Alex’s anger. “I’m only trying to spare you pain down the road.” 

“I highly doubt that. Go.” 

Once the door is closed, Alex paces back and forth, fuming. He cannot believe that Philip just showed up here and said all that. Well, really, he can believe it because Philip is a major asshole. Walking back into the office, Alex sits down to study again. But if he was distracted before, now he can’t focus on anything but Philip’s words rolling around in his head. 

_ You can’t have both.  _

His hands clench and unclench over and over. He stands up and paces around before sitting back down. Alex rubs his hands over his face. He grabs for his phone, ready to call Henry and tell him all about this ridiculous visit, but something stops him. 

_ You can’t have both.  _

It’s not like the thought hasn’t occurred to Alex before. It definitely has. He wonders how electable he’ll be if he’s married to Henry. He wonders how easy it’ll be for him to achieve what he wants if he’s also part of the British royal family. 

He’s only in his second year of law school. It feels too early to rule out an entire future he could have. Deep in his heart, he doesn’t think it’ll really come down to his career or Henry. But what if it does? 

_ You can’t have both.  _

Alex slams his book shut and walks away from the desk. He’s not getting any studying done today. Fucking Philip. 

It’s perhaps a bit impulsive, but Alex needs to get away. He throws a few clothes in a backpack and scribbles down a note to leave for Henry in the kitchen. Then he’s gone. 

Cash doesn’t say anything when Alex demands to be taken to D.C. The whole drive there is silent. Alex’s phone never rings — Henry thinks he’s studying. The time in the car gives him more time to think and that’s both a good and a bad thing. He figures out what he wants to do once he gets to D.C. at least. But figuring out other things is going to take a lot more time. 

Maybe this is something he should have stayed and done at the house, probably with Henry there, but Alex is too far away now to make that choice. 

The car drops him off at the Capitol building and Alex leaves his stuff in the car. He walks up the familiar stairs, taking a path without thinking until it leads him to his dad’s office. His secretary lets him through. Alex nods his thanks to her and knocks on the door. 

“Hey,” Alex says, sticking his head in. 

Oscar looks up from his desk, shocked to see his son standing in his office. “ _ Mijo,  _ what brings you here? Why aren’t you in New York?” 

“Good to see you too.” 

A raise of a brow is all he gets in response. “You know that’s not what I mean. Sit down. What’s going on?” Alex sits down with a sigh. Oscar narrows his eyes at him, taking in the look of him. “What’s the matter? Why are you in here and not bugging Raf?” 

“That’s rude. I don’t  _ bug  _ Raf.” 

“I think we’ve been given different stories, then. But really, what’s wrong. You don’t look like yourself.” 

“Can I ask you a question?” 

“Is it going to somehow answer the questions I’ve asked you and you’ve been dodging?” 

“Probably.” 

“Then yes.” 

Alex takes a deep breath, not really looking at his father. “Do you...do you have any regrets?” 

“About?” 

He tries again. “Do you regret choosing politics over your family?” 

Oscar’s eyebrows raise as he sits back in his chair and crosses his arms. “Oh. That’s what this is about?” 

Alex nods. “I’d ask Mom, but seeing how she’s the freaking president, I don’t see her having any regrets.” He clears his throat, watching his father. “But do you? Have any regrets?”

His father looks thoughtful for a moment. “If I’m being honest, no.” 

“Seriously?” 

“Look,  _ mijo,  _ I think I’ve said it before, but on some level, your mom and I knew we weren’t going to last. And I feel good about the things I’m able to accomplish here. You and June are amazing kids, even if we were a bit hands-off. Maybe if one of you were a criminal, I’d have regrets, but no, I really don’t.” He leans forward and fixes Alex with an intense look. “You wanna tell me what this is really about?” 

His voice is soft when he finally speaks. “I’m worried I’m going to have to choose between Henry and a career in politics.” 

“That’s what I thought this might have been about,” Oscar says with a grim smile. “What brought this on?” 

“Henry’s brother showing up and  _ telling  _ me I’m going to have to choose between Henry and a career in politics.” 

“What an asshole.” 

“Agreed.” Alex shakes his head. “I don’t know, I just don’t know what to do. It feels way too early to have to make a decision.” 

“Then don’t. You’re not even out of law school yet. You and Henry aren’t even married yet. Why should you have to make this decision now?” Oscar asks. 

“I guess I don’t have to. But now that it’s been shoved in my face, it feels like I should. I was accused of stringing Henry along if I end up choosing politics.” 

“Wow, he really is an asshole.” 

“Yep.” 

“You want my opinion on this?” 

Alex watches his dad. “You gonna give it to me anyway?” 

“Yes.” He grins. “You and Henry have already fought hard for your relationship. You two have something that your mom and I didn’t have. I think it’s the willingness to fight. We both gave into what we wanted and we didn’t fight for our marriage. Granted, we weren’t as well matched as I think you and Henry are. 

“There’s also the fact that no election is a slam dunk. Your projections can look good, but it’s not a guarantee that you’ll actually hold office. You can ask Nora about numbers, but whether you like it or not, if you want to run in Texas, you’re going to have to consider the fact that you’ll be a bisexual man with ties to foreign royalty. Whether you marry Henry or not, people know you are or were together and they’ll probably remember that. The people who don’t want you in office will certainly try to use it against you.” 

“Yeah,” Alex sighs. 

“You can also consider, though, that by the time you actually run for office, it may not matter. It’s not like Henry’s going to be king — unless some unspeakable tragedy rocks his family. So, I don’t see why you couldn’t have both.” 

“There’ll be people on both sides who don’t want me to have both.” 

“Who cares? There’ll be people your whole life who don’t want you to do things. That hasn’t stopped you yet.” 

“Yeah, you’re right.” Alex lays his head down on his arms where they’re folded on his father’s desk. “I just hate the idea of having to choose. I should be able to have both.” 

“You don’t have to choose,  _ Mijo.  _ Certainly not yet. You’re getting ahead of yourself here. And I’ll just say again that I don’t see you and Henry giving in so easily.” Alex sits back, looking around the room silently, trying to calm the noise in his head. “Was this helpful?” Oscar asks. 

“Kind of.” 

“Well, then I’ll turn your own question back on you. If you choose politics over your family, will you have regrets?” He watches Alex for a moment. “I think I know the answer, but I’m going to let you marinate on it. Now, get out of here. I have work to do.” 

Alex stands up and nods. “Thank you.” 

“You’re welcome. Now, on your way out of here, don’t go pester Raf. He doesn’t have the answers you want.” 

He laughs, looking back at his father. “You know me well.” 

Leaving the Capitol, Alex heads back to the White House, planning to stay there for the night in his old room. He flops down on his bed, laying there for a long time. Ignoring his phone and unable to see the clock, he has no idea how long he’s spent laying there. 

And through it all, he keeps hearing Philip’s grating voice saying:  _ You can’t have both.  _

His phone vibrates next to him and Alex sits up. Stomach sinking, he sees Henry’s face fill his screen. “Hello?”

“Hi.” 

“Let me guess. You got home and you found my note.” 

“No, actually, I’m not home yet. I know I said I wasn’t going to bother you all day, but I’m heading to the store and I wanted to see if you needed anything. Have you depleted your coffee supply yet?” Henry asks with a laugh. 

Alex feels his heart clench. “No. Look, baby —” 

“Well do you need anything from the store? I can bring you home anything you like.” 

“Henry, I’m not at home.” 

“Oh. Did you end up going to the library? I can bring you dinner there. I certainly don’t mind. You know how I worry about you eating enough while you’re in the throes of a studying fit.” 

“I’m not at the library either.” 

There’s a beat of silence. “Okay, so where are you?” 

“I’m in D.C.” 

“Shit,” Henry says quickly. “Why didn’t you tell me? Is everything okay? Is something wrong with your mum?” 

Henry’s panic over his family makes Alex ache a bit. He feels like a total asshole, especially because he doesn’t know how to explain this to Henry. “No, everything’s okay.” 

“Well then…” Henry pauses. Alex can picture the confused look on his face. “Then why are you there?” 

“I thought it would be a...a good place for me to think,” he says dumbly. 

“To— to  _ think?  _ Think about what?” 

“Henry,” Alex starts. Henry cuts him off. 

“Alex, what is going on? Did something happen? Something I don’t know about? What the bloody hell are you  _ thinking  _ about? Should I be concerned? Are you going to come home?” 

“I’m just thinking about...my future, I guess.” 

There’s a sound halfway between a scoff and an incredulous laugh on the other end. “Am I completely blind or is this coming out of nowhere? Because I thought we had a rather nice morning. Did you ask me to go to the shelter so that you could have some time alone to  _ think  _ rather than study? I’m just confused because I thought we were perfectly fine.” 

“Henry, it’s not that —” 

“You know what, I can’t do this,” Henry says, interrupting him. “This feels incredibly like you’re going to just break up with me over the phone and I’m not going to let that happen right now. So, erm, goodbye.” 

Henry hangs up and it leaves Alex feeling even worse. He lays back down on the bed, wallowing in how the day has gone. Not only has he been fucked up himself, but now he’s made Henry feel that way. 

“Hello!” He hears his mother’s voice, followed by a quick knock. She sticks her head in around the door. “Mind if I come in?” Alex shakes his head. Ellen walks over and stands in front of where he’s sitting on his bed. “I heard you were here.” 

“I am,” Alex says, holding out his arms as evidence. 

“Everything okay?” Alex nods. She raises one eyebrow in question. “You sure?” 

“I just needed to get away from New York for a bit.” 

“Something wrong with you and Henry?” 

He avoids her gaze. “I can’t just want to come back here for a night without anything being wrong?” 

“You moved out over a year ago and have not been back unless it’s a holiday or I have some sort of engagement you need to go to. So, no, I don’t think you can just come back for one night without anything being wrong. What’s up?”

“Nothing,” Alex tries. “Look, I have some stuff on my mind, but I went and visited Dad and he helped me talk through some things.” 

Ellen narrows her eyes at him. “Should I be offended that you went to your father and not to me?” 

Alex laughs. “Nope. He just seemed like the one who would be the most helpful.” 

She sits down on the bed next to him. “Well, if it helps to talk it out some more, you know I’m here to listen.” She watches him for a moment. “Should I have some dinner sent up?” 

“That would actually be great.” 

“Then I’ll have it done.” She stands back up and turns to look at him. “I hope you’re okay. I understand not wanting to talk about things, but I’m your mother and I only want what’s best for you.” 

Alex smiles and nods. “Thanks, Mom.” 

Ellen pauses at the door, turning back one more time. “If you need me, you know where to find me, sugar.” 

“Working into the night because you can’t make yourself stop?” he asks with a rare grin. 

She shakes her head at him. “Yeah, probably.” With a smile, she adds, “See you later.” And she’s out the door, leaving Alex alone again.

His dinner comes up and he eats slowly, but it doesn’t make him any less miserable about the realization he’s started to have. It came on both quickly and incrementally. Really, he thinks it’s been coming for a while, he just didn’t see it until he was slapped in the face with it. 

Alex has moved from the bed to his couch when there’s another knock at the door. “Come in,” he calls half-heartedly. Looking over toward the door, he sees a near fuming Henry walk in, stopping right in front of him. “Henry. You’re — you’re here.” 

“Did you honestly think after that call that I’d just sit up in New York, waiting patiently for you to decide to come home? And then I got back to the house and found a note where you said you needed a little space. Did you really not think I’d end up here?” Henry asks, his voice dripping with frustration. Alex feels even more awful. “Now, I’d like to kindly request for you to tell me what the hell is going on.” 

Alex shifts, planting his feet on the floor. He stares down at his hands in his lap, trying to decide how to explain this all to Henry. Eventually, he decides that the beginning is the best place to start. 

“Uh, well, we had a visitor today.” Henry’s brow furrows. “Your brother stopped by. I guess on his way out of town since I saw an article talking about his arrival in Boston.” Alex takes a deep breath. “I thought he came by to see you, but I think he knew you wouldn't be there and he planned to catch me on my own.” 

“What did he do?” 

“Oh, he had a very frank conversation with me about how I had to choose between a life with you or a career in politics.” 

Henry’s eyes slide closed, a hand coming to cover his face. “Are you serious?” 

“Yep.” 

“That absolute prick.” 

“Yep.” Alex shakes his head. “Anyway, he kept going on about how I had to choose because I couldn’t have both and that I’d be stringing you along if I was just going to end up choosing my career.” 

“That is not a conversation he needs to be having with you.” 

“I told him that too. But he kept insisting that I needed to think about it, that I needed to know what I can and can’t have if we get married.” 

Henry’s expression hardens as he watches Alex. “It’s not an  _ if  _ to me.” 

“I know,” Alex says. “I told him that.” 

“Look, Alex, if the time comes that you —” Henry suddenly stops, a panicked look in his eyes, staring anywhere but at Alex. “Oh my god,” he whispers. “I’m such a fool.” 

“What?” 

“You’re here,” Henry tells him. He drops his head into his hands. “You said you felt like you had to choose between politics and us and you’re  _ here.  _ Christ, I’m an idiot. You already made your choice.” He turns to walk toward the door, but Alex jumps up, stopping him with a hand to his arm. 

“Henry, I didn’t make a choice,” he says. Henry turns back to look at him. “I mean, I did. I made it a long time ago, but that wasn’t why I came here.” 

“Then why are you here?” 

“Look, some of what I said was true. I did need some space to think through things and I couldn’t do that at our home.” Alex holds Henry’s hands, making sure he doesn’t try to leave again. “But I also wanted to talk to my dad.”

“Why’s that?” 

“My parents very notably chose politics over each other — hell, over our whole family. I wanted to know if he had any regrets.” 

“And?”

“And, he said he didn’t.” A pained look crosses Henry’s face. Alex reaches up and cups his hands around Henry’s cheeks. “He didn’t have regrets, but I would.” 

A hopeful expression blooms. “You would?” 

“Yes,” Alex says emphatically. 

“But you’ve been dreaming about a career in politics longer than we’ve been together.” 

“Sure, but I love you and I love our life together. And I’m not going to let a hypothetical career split us up,” Alex insists. “I love you and want you more than I want to be a politician. I realized that I’d already made that choice. I chose law school and being with you over my single-minded track to be the youngest senator. And I don’t regret it. I can still help people on a different level. I mean, that was why I decided to get my law degree anyway.” 

“Yes, but you still had it in your plans to run for office one day,” Henry reminds him. He looks wretched. Alex hates himself a little bit. 

“I did, you’re right, but I’m not going to give you up for that.” 

Henry’s silent for a moment, watching him. “Then can I ask why you’re here?” 

It’s a fair question. He looks around his room, takes in the life he’d left behind when he uprooted himself and moved to New York. “I guess the hub of American politics,” Alex says, “seemed like a good place to come to say goodbye to an old dream.” 

He walks over to his desk, thinking of all the papers he sat here and wrote, of the life he’d planned for at the time. Even if he’s sure about Henry, sure about the life they have, it still feels huge officially letting this dream go. 

“Maybe you don’t have to say goodbye to it,” Henry offers. 

Alex looks over at him. “Are you saying that I should choose my hypothetical future career over you?” 

“No,” Henry says with a quick shake of his head. “I’m saying, maybe you don’t have to give up one to keep the other.” 

“My dad said that he wouldn’t be surprised if we could figure out a way for me to be part of the British royal family and Congress.” 

“I wouldn’t bet against you either, but that’s not actually what I meant.” Henry walks over to him, taking his hands back and clasping them. “If it truly comes down to one or the other,” he says, pausing to take a deep breath. “Then I’ll abdicate.” 

“What? Henry, no.” 

“I’m not letting you give up on your dream.” 

“But then you’d be giving up your family.” 

Henry shrugs. “It’s not like I’d be losing the ones who truly love me. Mum and Bea would still see me. They’d understand why I was doing it.”

Alex shakes his head. “I couldn’t ask you to do that. I couldn’t ask you to give that up for my dream.” 

“It’s not like I’d be giving up all that much. It’s not  _ my  _ dream. I’m not compromising my own happiness for yours. I love what we have here. I love working at the shelter and doing work that actually feels like I’m making a difference. It wouldn’t be giving up all that much.” He takes a step closer to Alex, resting his forehead against his. “If I have you and my work here, that’s really all I need.” 

“If this does come to pass, then we’ll talk about it. But I’d rather exhaust other options first,” Alex says. Henry nods. Wrapping his arms around Henry, Alex leans up and kisses him slowly. “I’m sorry,” he whispers. “You must be pissed at me for just high-tailing it out of there.” 

“Now that I understand, no, I’m not. I’ll admit, for the last few hours, yes, I was quite angry. And confused. And hurt. And a bit scared. I don’t like the idea of losing you.” He shakes his head. “If this is at all how I made you feel any of the times that I ran away across the ocean, then I truly do apologize.” 

“I’m pretty sure you’ve apologized for that before,” Alex says. “But do I at least get props for staying in the same country?” 

Henry scrunches his face, giving his head a small shake. He reaches up and cups Alex’s cheeks with his hands. “I promise I’m not going to make you give up the things that are important to you. I don’t want it to be a sacrifice to be with me. When I propose to you, I don’t want you to have any reservations about saying yes.” 

Alex furrows his brow, frowning. “Who says  _ you’re  _ going to be the one proposing?” 

Henry rolls his eyes. “We can fight about this another time.” He brings Alex in for a long hug, his fingers lacing through Alex’s hair. “I can also promise you that I’m going to have a very long conversation with my brother. I cannot believe he thinks he can pull something like that.” 

“I mean, it’s not that surprising.” 

Henry walks over and sits on the end of Alex’s bed, his face in his hands. “No, but it’s not right.” 

Alex joins him, stepping between his legs. “You’re right.” He bends down and presses a kiss to Henry’s hair. “I’m sorry I panicked and ran.” 

Looking up at him, Henry lays his hands at Alex’s waist. “It’s okay,” he promises. “Just, next time, include me. Let me know what’s going on so you don’t have to panic alone. Not saying I’m going to panic with you, but maybe I can help you feel more at ease.” He raises one eyebrow at Alex. “You know, that is what being in a relationship is all about. I had no idea you were having a full stage freak out because I thought you were studying all day.” 

Nodding his head, Alex wraps his arms around Henry. “I promise.” 

“You didn’t get much studying done today, did you?” Henry asks. Alex shakes his head. “That prick.”

Alex hugs him a bit tighter. “Will you stay here tonight?” 

“Did you expect me to go home without you?” Henry asks with a scoff. “Even if I know what’s going on now, after fretting all the way here, there’s no way I’m going home alone. No way.” 

Leaning down, Alex kisses him. Henry’s arms stretch up, running his fingers through Alex’s hair, deepening their kiss. “I’m sorry,” Alex breathes, pulling back a fraction. 

“I know,” Henry says. “And it’s okay. Just...please don’t leave me.” 

Alex rests his forehead against Henry’s. “Never. I told your brother as much. It’s not an  _ if _ for me either.” Henry tilts his head up, pressing a soft kiss against Alex’s lips. “Though, I’m still wondering why you just assume it’s going to be you who proposes.” 

Henry rolls his eyes. “I don’t know. It’s just how I’d planned it.” 

“Well, that’s not how I’d planned it,” Alex retorts. They both stare at each other, secretly wondering how much thought the other has put into a proposal. 

“Unless you’re planning on doing it tonight, I don’t think we need to worry about it yet,” Henry says, attempting to change the subject. 

“As a matter of fact,” Alex says, slowly lowering his knee toward the ground. 

“No!” Henry yells. He grabs Alex’s arms and yanks him upwards. “No, you do not get to propose to me out of the blue on the same night I thought you were about to break up with me. That is  _ not  _ going to be how this happens.” Alex laughs loudly, leaning into Henry. He’d gotten exactly the reaction he’d expected. Henry shakes his head at him, a reluctant grin on his face. “You demon.” 

“You love me.” 

His face grows serious, sincere. “I do, Alex.” 

Alex reaches up, cuping his cheek with his hand, running his thumb back and forth. He matches Henry’s sincerity. “I love you, too.” 

When they lay in bed that night, Henry is holding him particularly close, his arms tight around Alex’s body. “I have an idea,” Alex tells him, laying his head against Henry’s chest. 

“Am I going to like it?” 

“Undecided.” 

“That’s not very promising.” Henry presses a kiss in Alex’s hair. “What’s your idea?” 

“Both of us want to propose to the other. What if we made it a bit more interesting?” He looks up at Henry with wide eyes and a comical smile. 

Henry doesn’t look impressed. “Alex, are you suggesting we compete for it?” 

“That’s  _ exactly  _ what I’m suggesting! We should do it.” Henry huffs out a sigh. “We should do it! It’ll be fun!” He keeps repeating himself to the point of Henry groaning. 

“My god, if it will make you stop talking right now, I will  _ tentatively  _ agree to it. Alright?” 

Pressing a kiss to the underside of Henry’s jaw, Alex grins. “Alright. We can wait until we’re back in New York to lay down the ground rules.” 

Henry shakes his head, shifting deeper into the mattress. With his arms tight around him, Alex follows. “What if I just proposed to you now and blew your game out of the water?” 

“Don’t?” Alex asks feebly. “Besides you’re never going to know when it’s coming.” 

“No,  _ you’re  _ never going to know when it’s coming,” Henry argues. 

Alex grins to himself. “Agree to disagree.” 

“You’ll have your socks blown off.” 

“You’ll be crying for a week.” 

“Yeah, well you…” Henry trails off. “Can we please just go to sleep?” 

Alex laughs, kissing Henry’s cheek. “Probably smart. Gotta rest up so I can stay vigilant.” 

“I hate you.” 

“You love me.” 

Henry sighs, kissing Alex once more. “I do.” 

**Author's Note:**

> A follow up for this is in the works where these two fools actually do the proposal competition! Hopefully I'll have that finished soon. 
> 
> Thanks for reading! You can find me on tumblr -- I'm three-drink-amy!


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